Logical Reasoning and Analytical Ability - Sample Questions

Examples of Logical Consistency questions

Directions for questions 1 to 10:

Find the logically consistent pair of sentences on the basis of the given information.

1.Josie is on the swing when Inder is in the park.

1. Inder is in the park.
2. Josie is on the seesaw.
3. Inder is not in the park.
4. Josie is on the swing.

    
(a) CA         (b) AD        (c) BC         (d) DB

2 . Vinay is in the class when Harsh is in the lab.

1. Harsh is in the lab.
2. Vinay is in the park.
3. Harsh is not in the lab.
4. Vinay is in the class.

(a) CA         (b) AD        (c) BC         (d) BD

3. There is no rainbow when it rains in Gobi desert.

1. There is no rainbow in Gobi desert
2. There is rainbow in Gobi desert
3. There is no rain in Gobi desert
4. There is rain in Gobi desert

(a)BC          (b) DA        (c) AC         (d)DB

4. Porridge is not sweet when served without love

1. Porridge is sweet
2. Porridge is not sweet
3. Porridge is served with love
4. Porridge is served without love

(a) BC         (b) DA        (c) DB         (d) BD

5. If Anita and Sheila are not dancing, Anjali cannot dance.

1. Anita and Sheila are dancing.
2. Anjali cannot dance.
3. Anita and Sheila are not dancing.
4. Anjali is dancing.

(a) DA        (b) BA        (c) DB         (d) BD

6. Sushil and Shalini meet in the evening if Shantanu and Shikha meet in the morning.

1. Shantanu and Shikha met in the evening.
2. Sushil and Shalini met in the evening.
3. Sushil and Shalini met in the morning.
4. Shantanu and Shikha met in the morning.

(a) AC         (b) DB        (c) CD         (d) BA

7. If Archie and Reggie are selected in that order, Betty and Veronica cannot be selected.

1. Betty and Veronica are selected.
2. Reggie and Archie are selected.
3. Archie and Reggie are selected.
4. Betty and Veronica are not selected.

(a) BC         (b) AB        (c) BD         (d) DB

8. India wins only when it plays against Pakistan.

1. India lost the match.
2. Pakistan won the match.
3. India played against Australia.
4. India won the match.

(a) BD         (b) CA        (c) CB         (d) AD

9. Vinay’s tummy aches only when he has work to do.

1. There is work to do.
2. Vinay’s tummy is not aching.
3. Vinay’s tummy is aching.
4. There is no work to do.

(a) DB         (b) AB        (c) DC         (d) BC

10. India wins only when David is captain.

1. David is captain.
2. India won.
3. India did not win.
4. David is not captain.

(a) DC         (b) BC         (c) AD         (d) BC

Answers for Logical Consistency questions

1 - (b) AD	2 - (b) AD	3 - (a) BC	4 - (c) DB	5 - (a) DA
6 - (b) DB	7 - (b) AB	8 - (b) CA	9 - (a) DB	10 - (a) DC

Examples of Deductive and Inductive Logic – First format of questions

DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 10:
Each question contains six statements followed by four sets of combinations of three. Choose the set in which the statements are most logically related.

                                                             

1.  A. All boxers are animals.
B. All animals are not boxers.
C. All animals are beautiful.
D. All boxers are lively.
E. All animals are lively.
F. Boxers are beautiful.
(a) ADE      (b) BED      (c) ABE       (d) ACF

2.  A. Suresh is a maverick.
B. Some humans are not mavericks.
C. No man is a maverick.
D. Some men are dumb.
E. Suresh is human
F. Suresh is not a maverick.
(a) EFB       (b) ACD                     (c) FCA       (d) ABD

3. A. All roses are red.
B. Some reds do not smell good.
C. All red flowers are roses.
D. This flower smells good.
E. This flower is red.
F. This flower is a rose.
(a) DEF       (b) DBA                     (c) ACB      (d) CEF

4. A. Some chips are buttons.
B. All buttons are pink.
C. Some chips are pink.
D. Some pink are chips.
E. No chip is pink.
F. No button is a chip.
(a) CDE                      (b) FCD      (c) CDA      (d) ABC

5. A. No woman is dishonest
B. No honest person is a woman
C. All MPs are women
D. No MP is dishonest
E. All women are MPs
F. Some women are not serious
(a) EFD       (b) CAD                     (c) ABD      (d) ECB

6. A. All beautiful are maroon.
B. All maroon are cute.
C. No maroon is beautiful
D. No maroon is cute
E. All beautiful are cute.
F. All cute are beautiful
(a) ABE      (b) DBE      (c) FAB       (d) AFE

7.A. Drinking causes accidents
  B. Drinking causes unconsciousness
C. Drinking causes drowsiness
D. Unconsciousness causes accidents
E. Drinking causes drowsiness and disease
F. All drinkers cause nuisance
(a)  ABF                     (b) FEC       (c)  DBF      (d) BDA

8. A. All 1s, are 10s
B. All 10s are 100s
C. No 10 is a 1
D. No 10 is a 100
E. All 1s are 100s
F. All 100s are 1s
(a)  FAB                     (b) ABE      (c) DBE        (d) AFE

9  A. Pulp is made from plant waste
B. Dead leaves and twigs make up plant waste
C. Paper is not made from trees
D. Paper is made from pulp
E. Paper is made from waste
F.  Paper is made from plant waste

(a)  FAC                     (b) DAF       (c) DFA     (d) FED

10.  A. Some trees are climbers
B. All trees are plants
C. Rose is a bush
D. Some plants are bushes
E. Bushes are plants
F. Rose is a plant

(a)  ECF      (b) DCB     (c) CBD      (d) CAD

Answers for First format of Deductive Logic questions

1- (d) ACF	2- (a) EFB	3- (d) CEF	4- (d) ABC	5- (b) CAD
6- (a) ABE	7- (d) BDA	8- (b) ABE	9- (b) DAF	10- (a) ECF

Examples of Deductive and Inductive Logic – Second format of questions

DIRECTIONS:Each question has a set of four statements. Each statement has three segments. Choose the alternative where the third segment can be logically deduced from the proceeding two.

1. A.  X dances; Y dances; X are Y.
B.  Wives are clever; Clever are romantic; Wives are romantic.
C.  Tran and Joe are good; Mont ford boys are good, Tran and Joe Are from Mont ford.
D.  Tony is sweet; Ajay is sweet too; Tony may be Ajay.
(a) B & C                    (b) A & B                   (c) Only B                  (d) A & C

2. A.  Toffees are delicious; Delicious is not healthy; Toffees are not healthy.
B.  Toby is driver; Driver sometimes drink; Toby always drinks
C.  Tina is pretty; Pretty women are decent; Tina is decent.
D.  This is a leaf; This leaf is green; Some leaves are brown
(a) A & C        (b) Only A                 (c) B, C & D               (d) A & D

3  A.  This group has five members; Not more than two members are girls; At least three are boys
B.  The first cassette is about hip-hop and the second cassette is about blues; Blues and hip-hop are types of music; The cassette are on music
C.  Studies are a chore; A chore takes effort; Studies take effort
D. Statham’s room is adjacent to Ravi’s; Anil’s room is diagonally opposite to Ravi’s; Statham’s room is in front of Anil’s.
(a) A & B        (b) A, B & C              (c) B, C & D               (d) Only D

4. A.  Sonya studies hard; Sonya goes to school; To study hard you have to go to school.
B.  Some people are rich; All rich people are corrupt; Some people are corrupt.
C.  Some men are not helpful; No man is a brute; No man is trustworthy.
D.Some kids are interesting; All kids love to play; Some kids are interesting and playful.

(a) A, B & C              (b) B & C                   (c) Only B       (d) B & D

5. A.  Some girls have Barbie’s; Some Barbie’s sing; Some girls have singing Barbies
B.  Some girls are gifted; Some girls are bright; Some girls are gifted and bright.
C.  Some engineers are men; Most men commit blunders; Some engineers commit blunders.
D.Some colors are red, red shows on clothes; Colors do not show on red.

(a) B & D                   (b) Only C                 (c) A & B         (d) A, B & C

6. A.  Some chimps are crazy; Some crazy are nerds; Some nerds are chimps.
B.  Some cathedrals have lights; Some lights are neon’s; Some cathedrals have neon’s
C.  Some boys are skinny; Some boys are bold; Some boys are bold and skinny
D.Some birds have wings; This is a bird; This may not have a wing

(a) Only D                 (b) A, B & D              (c) B & C                    (d) C & A

7. A.  Most birds fly; This is a bird; The chance of this bird flying are high
B.  Soldiers need guts; I am a Soldier; I need guts
C. Singers are winners; Winners are happy; Some happy are singers.
D. She eats neither spinach nor beans; She ate spinach; She did not eat beans.
(a) A & D                   (b) A & B                   (c) B, C & D               (d) B & D

8. A.  Several boys took part in the contest; Only one boy won the contest; Some boys lost the contest
B.  Serena won the match; Venus lost the match; All losers are Venus.
C.  Seles won the match; Anna lost the match; Anna may have had an injury
D.Scotch causes drowsiness; He drank Scotch; He is drowsy

(a) A & B                   (b) B & C                   (c) A & D        (d) Only A

9. A.  Ronnie is Carol’s neighbor and friend; Carol is Phil’s neighbor and friend; Ronnie and Phil are friends
B.  Rita goes to Oracle; Rita’s friend goes to Oracle; Oracle goes to Rita.
C.  Rex is a swimmer, All swimmers have coaches; All coaches coach swimmers
D. Rekha is hardworking; Hardworking girls are gorgeous; Rekha is not gorgeous.
(a) A only       (b) A & B        (c) A & C         (d) None of these

10.  A.  Reeni is Jatin’s wife; Susan is Jatin’s sister; Reeni and Susan are related
B.  Paul is Ashby’s friend; Paul loves Ashby; Ashby loves Paul.
C.  Partners are doubtful; Suzan and Sager are doubtful; Suzan and Sager are not partners
D.Only lovers get angry; Annie got angry at Arnold; Annie loves Arnold.

(a) A & B                   (b) A & C                   (c) D & A        (d) B & C

Answers for Second format of Deductive Logic questions

1 – (c)	2 - (b)	3 - (b)	4 - (d)	5 - (b)
6 - (a)	7 - (b)	8 - (c)	9 - (d)	10 - (c)

Examples of Critical reasoning questions

Directions for questions 1 to 10
Each of the inferential / Critical reasoning questions is based on a short argument, a set of statements, or a plan of action. For each question, select the best answer of the choices given.

1. The company should not be held responsible for failing to correct the control-panel problem that caused the accident. Although the problem had been mentioned earlier in a safety inspector's report, companies receive hundreds of reports of such problems, and Industry Standard No. 42 requires action on these problems only when an accident is foreseeable.

If the second sentence in the paragraph above is factually correct, the answer to which of the following questions is most relevant in helping to determine whether or not the company violated Industry Standard No. 42 when it failed to correct the control-panel problem?

(A) Was the accident serious?
(B) Was the control-panel problem of a type that is known to indicate that an accident is likely?
(C) Since the accident, has the company done a special safety check on all control panels?
(D) Did the safety inspector mention more than one problem in the same report?

2.   A worldwide ban on the production of certain ozone-destroying chemicals would provide only an illusion of protection. Quantities of such chemicals, already produced, exist as coolants in millions of refrigerators. When they reach the ozone layer in the atmosphere, their action cannot be halted. So there is no way to prevent these chemicals from damaging the ozone layer further.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously strengthens the argument above?

(A) It is impossible to measure with accuracy the quantity of ozone-destroying chemicals that exist as coolants in refrigerators.
(B) In modern societies, refrigeration of food is necessary to prevent unhealthy and poten­tially life-threatening conditions.
(C) Replacement chemicals that will not destroy ozone have not yet been developed and would be more expensive than the chemicals now used as coolants in refrigerators.
(D) Even if people should give up the use of refrig­eration, the coolants already in existing refrigerators are a threat to atmospheric ozone.

3. When an osprey (a fish-eating hawk) returns from fishing to its nesting area with a fish like an alewife, a pollack, or a smelt, other ospreys will retrace its flight path in hopes of good fishing. There is seldom such a response if the first bird brings back a winter flounder. Yet ospreys feed on winter flounder just as readily as on any other fish.

Which of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the fishing behavior of ospreys as it is described above?

(A) Ospreys are seldom able to catch alewives, pollack, or smelt
(B) Alewives, pollack, and smelt move in schools, but winter flounder do not.
(C) Winter flounder prefer shallower waters than do alewives, pollack, or smelt
(D) Winter flounder and pollack exhibit protective coloration, but alewives and smelt do not.

4.   A recent study of an insurance company's under­writers indicated that those who worked in pleasant physical surroundings were 25 percent more produc­tive than their peers in unpleasant physical surround­ings. Objective criteria for evaluating job performance included caseload and complexity of cases. This shows that improving workers' environments increases those workers' productivity.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

(A) On average, less-productive employees spend no fewer hours per day at their workstations than do their more-productive peers.
(B) Unpleasant surroundings give employees less motivation to work hard than more pleasant surroundings do.
(C) The more-productive employees are generally rewarded with pleasant office space.
(D) More-productive employees do not work any more hours than their less-productive peers.

5. In a certain country, individuals tend to change their political affiliation readily from one political party to another. In the past, the Union party grew larger because of this tendency, but although most of those who change to a new party affiliation change to the Union party, the Union party has remained about the same size in recent years.

Which of the following, if true, best helps to explain the change in the growth pattern of the Union party mentioned above?

(A) The economy has been prospering recently, and many of those who change party affiliation are upwardly mobile and prosperous.
(B) In recent years those who were previously nonaffiliated have tended to join the Union party if they joined any party at all.
(C) The percentage of voting-age citizens who change political party affiliation each year has remained constant, and the number of voting-age citizens has remained the same.
(D) Many members of the Union party have aban­doned all political party affiliation in recent years.

6. Most television viewers estimate how frequently a particular type of accident or crime occurs by how extensively it is discussed on television news shows. Television news shows report more on stories that include dramatic pictures such as fires and motor vehicle accidents than they do on more common stories that have little visual drama such as book­keeping fraud.

If the statements above are true, it can be properly concluded that which of the following is also true?

(A) The time that television news reporters spend researching news stories is directly related to the number of viewers who will be affected by events like those in the news stories.
(B) It is easier for crimes such as bookkeeping fraud to go unprosecuted than it is for crimes such as arson.
(C) The number of fires and motor vehicle acci­dents greatly increases after each television news show that includes dramatic pictures of a fire or motor vehicle accident.
(D) Viewers of television news shows tend to over­estimate the number of fires and motor vehicle accidents that occur relative to the number of crimes of bookkeeping fraud.

7. According to one psychological theory, in order to be happy, one must have an intimate relationship with another person. Yet- the world's greatest composers spent most of their time in solitude and had no intimate relationships. So the psychological theory must be wrong.

The conclusion above assumes that

(A) the world's greatest composers chose to avoid intimate relationships
(B) people who have intimate relationships spend little time in solitude
(C) solitude is necessary for the composition of great music
(D) the world's greatest composers were happy

8. Every member of the Progress party in a certain city council voted against appropriating funds to build a new bridge. All city council members voted on the bridge-appropriation issue. A simple majority of votes was needed to pass the bill.

Which of the following statements, if true, would provide sufficient information to tell whether or not the bridge appropriation bill passed?

(A)The Progress party holds a majority of seats on the city council.
(B) Less than half of the members of the other parties all taken together voted against the bridge appropriation.
(C) No other council members voted against the bridge appropriation.
(D) Three-fourths of the votes cast against the appropriation were by members of the Progress party.

9.      A common defence of sport hunting is that it serves a vital wildlife-management function, without which countless animals would succumb to starvation and disease. This defence leads to the overly hasty conclusion that sport hunting produces a healthier pop­ulation of animals.

Which of the following, if true, best supports the author's claim that sport hunting does not necessarily produce a healthier population of animals?

(A) For many economically depressed families, hunting helps keep food on the table.
(B) Wildlife species encroach on farm crops when other food supplies become scarce.
(C) Overpopulation of a species causes both strong and weak animals to suffer.
(D) Sport hunters tend to pursue the biggest and healthiest animals in a population.

10.      Government department head: We already have a code of ethics that companies doing business with the department are urged to abide by. The fact that virtually all of the companies have agreed to abide by it indicates that it is successful. Therefore, neither stronger ethics regulations nor enforcement mecha­nisms are necessary to ensure ethical behaviour by companies doing business with the department.

Which of the following, if· true, casts most doubt on the department head's conclusion?

(A) The code of ethics applies only to companies that do business with the department.
(B) The code of ethics was instituted only after it was discovered that several companies had committed serious violations of ethics in their business with the department.
(C) A government investigation found that most of the companies that agreed to abide by the department's code of ethics are not complying with it.        .
(D) A survey of major companies found that several companies stopped doing business with the department because they did not want to agree to abide by the code of ethics.

Answers for Critical Reasoning Questions

1.	(B) Was the control-panel problem of a type that is known to indicate that an accident is likely?
2.	(B) In modern societies, refrigeration of food is necessary to prevent unhealthy and poten­tially life-threatening conditions.
3.	(B) Alewives, pollack, and smelt move in schools, but winter flounder do not.
4.	(C) The more-productive employees are generally rewarded with pleasant office space.
5.	(D) Many members of the Union party have aban­doned all political party affiliation in recent years.
6.	(D) Viewers of television news shows tend to over­estimate the number of fires and motor vehicle accidents that occur relative to the number of crimes of bookkeeping fraud.
7.	(D) the world's greatest composers were happy
8.	(A)The Progress party holds a majority of seats on the city council.
9.	(D) Sport hunters tend to pursue the biggest and healthiest animals in a population.
10.	(C) A government investigation found that most of the companies that agreed to abide by the department's code of ethics are not complying with it.   .